The Brü Club xBmt Series | Whole Cone vs. Pellet Hops When Used To Dry Hop An American Pale Ale

This xBmt was completed by a member of The Brü Club in collaboration with Brülosophy as a part of The Brü Club xBmt Series. While members who choose to participate in this series generally take inspiration from Brülosophy, the bulk of design, writing, and editing is handled by members unless otherwise specified. Articles featured on Brulosophy.com are selected by The Brü Club leadership prior to being submitted for publication. Visit The Brü Club Facebook Group for more information on this series.

Author: Will Lovell

When I first started brewing over a decade ago, I remember the befuddlement I had when I opened my very first package of hops.  Instead of the beautifully shaped cones that I’d seen on the cover of so many brewing books and magazines, I was presented with something that looked like rabbit food. My concern quickly turned into amazement when I got a whiff of the hoppy goodness, and while I predominately use pellets in my brewing these days, I have an admittedly romanticized perspective of whole cone hops.

There’s some debate around the aromatic and flavor qualities different hop types impart to beer, which seems to stem largely from the fact that pellets go through more processing than whole cone hops. After being harvested from the field, hops are kiln dried for up to 12 hours before being cooled, at which point they’re ready for use. However, a portion will move on to palletization, which involves pulverizing the whole cone hops into a powder that gets forced through an extrusion die to create pellets. It’s during this process that some believe the hops are exposed to oxygen, which degrades the aroma and flavor producing oils in the final product.

A couple past xBmts have showed tasters couldn’t reliably distinguish beers dry hopped with either whole cone or pellet hops, which countered the claims of many. Armed with some fresh 2021 whole cone and pellet Cascade that I picked up from Yakima Valley Hops using a recent Patreon discount, I designed an xBmt to test this one out for myself!

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between an American Pale Ale dry hopped with either whole cone or pellet Cascade hops from the same crop year.

| METHODS |

As a lover of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, I designed a recipe inspired by it for this xBmt.

Cascading Variables

The night before brewing, I weighed out and milled two identical sets of grain.

Having only a single brewing system, I was forced to brew two consecutive batches. After collecting the water for each and adjusting them to the same desired profile, my little man flipped the switch to get them heating up.

With the water properly heated, I incorporated the grains then checked to make sure the mash was at my target temperature.

Following each mash rest, I removed the grains the boiled the worts for 60 minutes with hops added at the times listed in the recipe.

When the boil was complete, I quickly chilled the wort and took refractometer readings showing each wort hit the same 1.055 OG before transferring identical volumes to separate Kegmenters.

Next, I pitched a pack of yeast into each batch before placing the filled fermenters in my chamber controlled to 66°F/19°C.

After 4 days fermentation, I prepared the dry hop additions.

After splitting both the whole cones and pellets evenly between 2 stainless mesh filters to ensure adequate flow, I gently dropped them into the beers.

I let the beers mingle with the dry hops for 5 days before taking hydrometer measurements showing both reached the same FG.

At this point, I cold crashed the beers for 24 hours before pressure transferring them into separate CO2 purged kegs.

The filled kegs were placed in my keezer and burst carbonated overnight before I reduced the gas to serving pressure. After a week of conditioning, they were carbonated and ready for evaluation.

| RESULTS |

A total of 18 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 2 samples of the beer dry hopped with whole cone hops and 1 sample of the beer dry hopped with pellet hops then asked to identify the unique sample. While 10 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to accurately identify the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance, only 9 did (p=0.11), indicating participants in this xBmt were unable to reliably distinguish an American Pale Ale dry hopped with whole cone hops from one dry hopped with the same amount of pellet hops that were of the same variety and crop year.

My Impressions: Out of the 5 semi-blind triangle tests I attempted, I correctly identified the odd-beer-out just twice. To me, these beers were characteristically identical with great hop aroma and flavor that was reminiscent of Sierra Nevada green label. I did not mind having these beers on tap at all!

| DISCUSSION |

Two of the most common forms hops come in are whole cone and pellets, and given the different processes used to make them, some believe they impart unique characteristics to beer, particularly when used for dry hopping. In contradiction of this claim, tasters in this xBmt were unable to reliably distinguish an American Pale Ale dry hopped with whole cone hops from one dry hopped with the same amount of pellet hops of the same variety and crop year.

Curiously, despite both the whole cone and pellet hops being from the 2021 crop year and sourced from Yakima Valley Hops, there was a rather large difference in alpha acid between them. This variation is unsurprising seeing as hops like Cascade are grown on various farms, though even understanding that isomerization does not occur when dry hopping, I thought it was interesting that it had little if any perceptible impact.

While I enjoyed the beer made with whole cone hops, I wasn’t a fan of the amount of volume they took up in both my freezer and my fermenter. The compact form of pellet hops make them a more practical solution for me, so I’ll continue using them in my brewing, though I’ll certainly not avoid whole cone hops when they’re all that’s available.

Will Lovell is a proud father of two currently living in San Antonio, TX. His loving wife got him his first homebrew kit over a decade ago and he has been enjoying the hobby ever since. Will currently serves as the Event Coordinator for The Brü Club and enjoys challenging old brewing conventions through experimentation. When he isn’t brewing or spending time with his family, Will enjoys spending time in the great outdoors, especially if it involves hunting or fishing.

If you have any thoughts about this xBmt, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below!

Support Brülosophy In Style!

All designs are available in various colors and sizes on Amazon!

Follow Brülosophy on:

FACEBOOK   |   TWITTER   |   INSTAGRAM

If you enjoy this stuff and feel compelled to support Brulosophy.com, please check out the Support page for details on how you can very easily do so. Thanks!